This invention relates to a toothed star wheel adapted to rotate about a predetermined axis and adapted to be periodically indexed by an actuating pin rotatable about a parallel axis and along a circular path which intersects the outer periphery of the star wheel.
Lense U.S. application Ser. No. 545,780, filed Oct. 27, 1983, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,553,656 and assigned to the assignee of the present invention discloses a toothed star wheel which is incorporated in a power-operated actuator for a window. The actuator includes an electric motor which acts through a gear train to open and close the window. One of the gears carries an actuating pin which is spaced radially from the axis of the gear and which is adapted to coact with a star wheel having a series of angularly spaced teeth and intervening pockets formed around its outer periphery. During each revolution of the gear, the pin enters one of the pockets and bears against the flank of one of the teeth to rotatably index the star wheel through one step. After the window has been moved through a predetermined distance, the pin does not enter a pocket but instead comes into direct engagement with and is stopped by the tip of a relatively wide tooth formed on the periphery of the star wheel. As a result of such engagement, the motor is stalled so as to stop further movement of the window.